Police were surrounding the flaming mountainside cabin where former LAPD cop Christopher Dorner barricaded himself Tuesday after killing one sheriff’s deputy and wounding a second, law enforcement sources said.

Black smoke and flames could be seen coming from the cabin, but it was unknown how the fire started or even whether Dorner was trapped inside.

A shootout and standoff began after police received a report around 12:22 p.m. that someone fitting Dorner’s description had stolen a car from a home near the ski resort area of Big Bear, police said.

A ground and air search ensued, and authorities located the pickup on Highway 38.

A spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game said one of its wardens was the “very first person to spot Mr. Dorner … They both got out of the vehicles and exchanged gunfire.”

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The warden was not hurt and Dorner, who was already wanted for three slayings linked to a revenge-fueled rampage, was not captured, agency spokesman Andrew Hughan told NBCLosAngeles.com.

Gunfire erupted during the hunt for former LAPD officer Christopher Dorner, who was charged with murder on Monday. The unfolding drama brought officers to a cabin in the mountains where the suspect was barricaded inside. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

“The suspect fled into the forest and barricaded himself inside a cabin,” said a statement from the San Bernardino Sheriff’s office.

“A short time later there was an exchange of gunfire between law enforcement and the suspect ... Two law enforcement officers are being airlifted to a local hospital with unknown injuries.”

The wounded officers were taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where Sheriff John McMahon later confirmed one had died and one was in surgery. Their names were not released.

Meanwhile heavily armed cops were massed around the cabin where the suspect – identified as Dorner by high-ranking LAPD sources – holed up after crashing the stolen truck.

In the largest manhunt in LAPD history, hundreds of investigators have spent a week searching for Dorner, who is accused of killing a retired captain’s daughter and her fiancÚ on Feb. 3 and a police officer on Feb. 7.

Dorner’s burned-out truck, a Nissan Titan, was found in Big Bear last week and scores of officers have been combing the mountain, going door-to-door to see if they could find signs of forced entry.

At an afternoon press conference, LAPD commander Andy Smith wouldn't confirm the ex-LAPD officer was holed-up in the cabin, but said he had a message for Dorner: “Enough is enough. It’s time to turn yourself in.”

“Everyone is very hopeful that this thing ends without any further bloodshed,” Smith said. “The best thing for him now would be to surrender…and he can face the criminal justice system.”

LAPD officers rushed to the scene to assist San Bernardino deputies and were also sifting through hundreds of clues about Dorner’s activities in recent days.

“Until this guy is in handcuffs … none of the people in our department are going to rest,” Smith said.

Dorner, an ex-cop and Navy reservist detailed his plans and hit list in an online manifesto — a 11,000-word declaration of war against the LAPD in which he makes it clear he would not be taken alive.

“Self Preservation is no longer important to me,” he wrote. “I do not fear death as I died long ago on 1/2/09.”

That’s the date that Dorner got his walking papers from the LAPD after being fired for making a false statement about an officer he accused of brutalizing a suspect.

Police say Dorner exacted revenge on the lawyer who represented him at the internal review, retired captain Randy Quan, by gunning down his daughter, Monica Quan, 28, and her boyfriend, Keith Lawrence, 27, in their car as they returned home to Irvine, Calif., after the Super Bowl.

Four days later, authorities said, Dorner ambushed police officers who were guarding other potential targets in Riverside and Corona, Calif., killing one of them.

LAPD officials said earlier Tuesday they were sifting through 1,000 clues and, including a video that may show the suspect stocking up on scuba gear before the killing spree.

"With a thousand clues or tips, you have to prioritize," LAPD Lt. Andy Neiman said.

Police confirmed they were even looking into the possibility Dorner had fled to Mexico — the destination he mentioned when he tried to steal a boat in San Diego last Wednesday.

"It is frustrating," Neiman said. "We are hopeful that these investigative leads will lead to a conclusion."

A third person was reportedly shot at because police believed he was suspected cop killer and fugitive Christopher Dorner.

David Perdue was on his way to catch some waves on Thursday morning when, according to his lawyer, a Torrance, Calif. police cruiser "slammed into his pickup and officers opened fire," reports the Los Angeles Times.

The bullets missed Perdue, but his attorney, Robert Sheahen, said his client suffered a concussion and hurt his shoulder, making it temporarily impossible for him to work at his job as a baggage handler at LAX. Perdue's car was also totaled, Sheahen told the Times.

The Torrance Police Department said the incident was a case of mistaken identity. Officers thought Perdue's truck was Dorner's pickup.

The department issued this statement to the Times:

"The circumstances of the incident known to the responding officers would have led a reasonable officer under normal circumstances -- and these were far from normal circumstances -- to believe that fellow officers were being shot at and that the vehicle traveling toward them posed a serious risk.
"In the split seconds available to them," the statement continued, "action was appropriate to intervene and stop the actions of the driver of that vehicle."

Sheahen told the Los Angeles Daily News that the officers' actions were "violent and reckless."

The paper notes that "Perdue is a thin white man who looks nothing like Dorner" who is black and heavier set.

"In light of the officer's attempt to kill Mr. Perdue Mr. and Mrs. Perdue would like to know what, if any, disciplinary action the Torrance Police Department intends to take against the officers involved," Sheahen said in a letter sent to the department and obtained by the Daily News. "They would also like to know what the (department) intends to do to make sure that their community is not endangered like this in the future."

The incident is still under investigation, according to the Times.

The shooting is the second case of mistaken identity associated with the search for Dorner.

Also on Thursday, two women were shot at by Los Angeles Police officers because their truck was mistaken for Dorner's. At the time, there was a report that Dorner had been spotted in the neighborhood.

KPCC reported on Sunday that the two women were released from the hospital, according to their attorney.

Dorner's actual truck was discovered "deserted and in flames" on the side of Bear Mountain, Calif. on Thursday, according to ABC News.

Authorities have offered a $1 million reward for information that leads to the arrest of Dorner, a former LAPD cop and Navy reservist accused of killing three people.

yea it accidently caught on fire NOT !
how the LAPD WAS BROUGHT IN TO HELP THE SHERIFF UP IN THE MOUNTAINS IS WHAT REALLY BOTHERS ME. YOU WOULD THINK THE LAPD WOULD BE FORCED OUT AS CONFLICT OF INTREST SINCE HE IS ACCUSING THEM OF CRIMES AS WELL.

WHY THEY COULD NOT GET OTHER HELP OR HANDEL IT HTEM SELVES IS BEYOND ME.

I CANT SEE HOW HE IS IN THERE JURISDICTION. I CANT SEE WHO WOULD ALLOW THEM IN ????? SOME THING REALLY STINKS HERE . SINCE WHEN DOES THE SHERRIF NEED A TOWNS POLICE DEPARTMENTS HELP?????????
THE LAPD SHOT HOW MANY PEOPLE ON ACCIDENT ?????? NOW LETS BRING THEM UP IN THE WOODS ?????? WTF????????????????? THE LAST THING THE SHERRIF NEEDS IS LAPD GOING TRIGGER HAPPY AN KILLING SHERRIFS

I HEARD ON OTHER SITES THE LAPD WAS IN MEXICO AS WELL ?????????????????????